Peoples’ perception of mother-daughter sexual communication patterns and adolescent girls reproductive health in Enugu North LGA of Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

In many African societies, sexual communication between female adolescents and their mothers is not openly encouraged because of the inherent culture of silence that surrounds sexuality. Sexual communication between mothers and their daughters has therefore remained a challenge and the consequences are that female adolescents become vulnerable to reproductive health problems such as teenage pregnancy, STDs, and HIV/AIDS. Although studies on adolescents mother- daughter sexual communication patterns in other parts of the world are widely reported in literature, very few research on the phenomenon exist in Enugu state, Nigeria. This study investigated peoples‘ perception of mother-daughter sexual communication pattern and adolescents reproductive health in Enugu state, Nigeria. The study is based on a survey of 294 respondents selected through the multi-stage sampling technique. The instruments used for data collection comprised of structured questionnaire and in-depth interview (IDI) guide. The findings among other things show that private face to face communication pattern on adolescents sexuality is adopted by majority of mothers in Enugu, Nigeria. However, this pattern is usually spontaneous and unplanned and takes place occasionally. Again, the discussions do not involve all the reproductive health issues as only a few,such as dangers of pre-marital sex, menstruation and physiological changes are mostly emphasized while the use of contraceptives is ignored. Based on the findings, systematic and effective use of face to face pattern of communication, improved sexual communication skills on sexuality education were recommended.

Keywords: Sexuality, Adolescents, Sexual communication, Reproductive health